AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The University of Minnesota Morris softball team took one of two on Thursday, defeating Lasell University, 6-2, before dropping a 9-0 contest to Lake Forest College later in the afternoon. The results leave UMN Morris at 2-8 overall early on in the season.

The Cougars are back at it early on Friday morning, facing Beloit College at 9 a.m. (EDT) and Cornell College at 11:30 a.m. (EDT) in Winter Haven, Fla.

Minnesota Morris 6, Lasell 2
After three scoreless innings to start, the game burst into action in the fourth inning. Minnesota Morris was the first to strike, taking advantage of two errors from the Lasers in the inning to bring Mary Landherr home for a 1-0 lead.

Lasell briefly took the lead thanks to a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Cougars quickly retook the lead though, loading the bases with no outs in the top of the fifth thanks to singles from Brenna Mahoney and Alice Wilkinson, and a walk to Sierra Stevens. Sacrifice flies from Olivia Losee and Tori Nichols tied the game and then gave Minnesota Morris a 3-2 advantage.

The Cougars plated three more runs in the top of the sixth to provide some insurance. Nevaeh Polanco singled home Adrianna Johnson, followed by a fielder's choice from Brenna Mahoney that brought home Malena Mahoney. Wilkinson would add a bunt RBI to score Polanco before the inning was through.

Johnson handled things from there, finishing off a complete game and moving to 2-3 on the season. Johnson gave up no earned runs and struck out four in the game. Stevens, Wilkinson, and Polanco all had two hits apiece.

Lake Forest 9, Minnesota Morris 0 (5 innings)
Lake Forest scored in all five innings, including three runs in both the second and fourth frames, to come away with a run-rule victory in the second game of the day.

Minnesota Morris collected only two hits – one each from Stevens and Polanco – while the Foresters had nine and capitalized on four Cougar errors as well.

Autumn Theis was charged with the loss to fall to 0-2 on the season. Theis struck out two in 3.0 innings and two of her five runs were unearned. Morgan Wilhelm threw the final 2.0 innings and gave up just one earned run while notching a strikeout.